Many obstacles will come in your way; keep the faith: Raghav Jain

Gautam Buddha University

During my school days, I was an average student but was hard-working. I had a keen interest in Science. Though I opted for the medical stream in 11th, I didn’t try for MBBS like every other classmate of mine. From the start, I used to think differently from others, so I chose to do Biotechnology after my 12^th. My other classmates were doing coaching and other stuff to get into MBBS. I was trying to get into Biotechnology and I was failing different entrance examinations. But throughout this, I never lost hope. I kept on trying to get admission in Biotechnology. Finally, I chose my university- Sharda University. In between this, my 12^th result was also announced and, as expected, I was not a topper but my marks were average. With this, I started my under-graduation in the university. Earlier, I was very confused about this course as it was newly introduced in India. But I was sure about myself that I would do something well. As the semester passed, I got to know about this field. More importantly, I came to know that this field required a lot of hard work and patience, along with good subjective and analytical skills. So I started working on this, as being in a private university, there were some obstacles in getting a good result. But if you are sure about your goal, you can find your way.

This was my thinking at that time. Due to this thought, I found a very good friend in my last year and a guide who helped me a lot to complete my research project. When my final year started, there was pressure on us to choose a guide and a project title, and I was waiting for this period as I was looking forward to publishing my first research paper. With an aim to publish my first paper, I started working on my project which was Extraction of Oil from Cannabis Sativa. During the final year, I faced a lot of problem and hindrance in completing this project. But my hope was always alive and before completing my final degree, I was the first student from my department who published his paper in his graduation.

During my degree course, I found many things which came in between my learning but what remained intact was my faith in myself. Now, after 6 years, when I am writing this, it is results and admission season. Some students might score good marks while some might not. But let me tell you one thing - do not bother about the marks. Just believe in yourself and start working to achieve your goal. I would like to end my story with these three things:

• Never cheat yourself and be honest to yourself
• Never sit empty, try learning something new all the time
• Don’t compare yourself with anyone. We all have our own pace which runs according to our time, not others’

About the Author:

I have just completed my MTech in Biotechnology from Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida (UP). My interest is towards making the society better. I try to achieve this with my different research projects- like this year, in my M.Tech project, I invented eco-bags from the peel of pea-pods, which work as an alternative of plastics bags. Apart from this, my interest is in acting and playing cricket.